Posted on May 20, 2008 | 19 comments |
If you'd been reading the tea leaves, like Stu_n has, you'd have seen it coming. But the official announcement has just been made that top writer bloke, multiple award winner and future Tin Tin scribe Steven Moffat has just been appointed the new show runner on Doctor Who. He'll replace Rusty Davies for the fifth series.
Feel free to discuss this amongst yourselves.
There's a Fat Pig after-show Q&A with Neil LaBute on Tuesday 8th July, with Vanessa Feltz as co-host. You can also get the best available seats for this performance, Thursday matinees, Mondays and Tuesdays for £25 until the 10th July. You can order over the phone or online using the "FACEBOOK" promo code.
Sky One's Empire was a bit poor, wasn't it?
Warship got a lot better and more focused as the series went on, so I'd recommend catching it on re-runs if you can since it's worth sticking with to the end.
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May 20, 2008 | Reply
[oh! Rob!] Just emailed this to the Resident Fan Boy at work. Very exciting! (I liked Jekyll. It scared the bejeesus out of me, but I liked it.) Does this mean we'll get Denis Lawson on DW?
May 20, 2008 | Reply
I wasn't reading the tea leaves, I was reading the forum on the Chris Morris website! Although Moff convincing Rusty not to kill off Jenny Who was a big clue.
Good news, this. Now, what's DT doing?
May 20, 2008 | Reply
Oh well you know I'm a fan (we Moffs have to stick together) SO woohoo from me... Why's Rusty stepping down?
May 20, 2008 | Reply
[this is good] This is *very* good! If not a little predictable ;) Moffat's always done fantastic stand-alone episodes (or double-episodes) so far, but with him being so wonderful at weaving together complicated but hugely satisfying plots, it'll be fun to see what he does with the series-long story arcs especially.
May 20, 2008 | Reply
Fact: I came out of work at 6pm. Pretty much first thing boy says to me in the car was "Russell T Davies is leaving Doctor Who". Yes, sweetie, not terribly surprised there. I added "Smart money, and fan desire, is largely for Steven Moffat to take over as the new showrunner" before launching into a long summation of the Who team and Moffat's possible take-over in light of his current role (I was thinking of Stu_n's remark about bringing JennyWho back to life...)
Anyway, I get home and when it reaches that bit of the news... ta-da! I almost felt vindicated in my faux-geekiness.
May 20, 2008 | Reply
Yes, it was probably the most expected, least surprising news of all time: it was just a question of when it was going to happen. I suspected when they started allowing someone other than Rusty a word in edgeways on Doctor Who: Confidential, that man being Steven Moffat – on a story he hadn't written, mind.
As for the tea leaves, what with all the astrology today, I thought it appropriate somehow.
May 20, 2008 | Reply
I just wrote about this and winged my way over here to see what you thought. In short; hurrah! The Moff! I absolutely love him and think he'll be a fine successor.
(I'm still waiting for the vitirol to start within the fandom. You know the sort; "Oh, he'll be so much better than that bastard Russell." That kind of thing. I like Rusty. Am I the only one?)
Also...blog Gods? Really?
May 20, 2008 | Reply
An unbeliever. Watch it or you'll be excommunicated.
If you prefer, "people elevated to God-like status". They've been there for a while, it's just no one noticed them much...
May 20, 2008 | Reply
Rumour generation powers, ACTIVATE! The aim of this game is to create a rumour of the form: [person who has been in a Moffat show] to play [the Doctor/a companion/a well known Dr Who character/a major villain]. The more absurd the better.
e.g.
Robert Bathurst to play the Doctor
Gina Bellman to play the Rani
Sarah Alexander to play Romana
Dexter Fletcher to play a Sea Devil
Points will be awarded for getting anything into a respected publication (or failing that, The Sun).
What do points make? PRIZES! And this week's prize is perfectly suited for the Doctor Who fan who likes cooking - it's a Kenwood Ood processor.
May 21, 2008 | Reply
What are the odds on Jack Davenport being the next Doctor now? Fairly high I reckon. Shame I find him so colossally annoying.
May 21, 2008 | Reply
Reasonable, although if CBS finally gets round to airing Swingtown and it proves to be a success, not as great.
May 21, 2008 | Reply
Oh, he'll be so much better than that bastard Russell :)
The majority of Rusty scripts have been utterly dreadful. whereas all that worries me (a tiny bit) now is that Moffat thinks the Doctor's daughter was a good idea when it clearly wasn't.
Still, I'd be terribly hypocritical if I didn't say thank God Davies is leaving...
May 21, 2008 | Reply
And the rumour mill is now churning around the series 5 writers. Apparently we can expect at least one episode from someone who wrote one of the best-received single epsiodes, but didn't enjoy the experience and hadn't written for the show since; and a very well-known comics writer turned best-selling novelist and screenwriter has been invited to contribute, but hasn't confirmed yet...
May 21, 2008 | Reply
I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with Rob Shearman?
May 21, 2008 | Reply
Couldn't possibly comment and it wasn't me who told you, etc.
Said comics/novels/films writer commented about it on his blog yesterday, in a way which is being interpreted by some as an extraordinarily coy confirmation.
May 21, 2008 | Reply
Is it the same writer who a couple of days ago he was writing Tenth Doctor / Hamlet dialogue on his blog?
Very pleased with the news, I am a big fan of both RTD and Steven Moffat, and only the Moff can balance the disappointment of losing TD.
Now, if they say that DT stays for the first SM series, I would be very very happy.
May 21, 2008 | Reply
Poly,
Weeeell, er, might have been, I think you could say it might have been... well, I say it might have been, well, actually, oh! Is it that time already? Lunchtime, I'd say... lunch, anybody? Lunch?
May 21, 2008 | Reply
Well I think I know who Poly's talking about, which I guessed from the clues Stu had given... And if that were true I for one would be ecstatic. I really wanted said unknown talented genius to write a fantasy novel for me years ago, but he was too busy doing wonderful graphic novels and I could never track him down. And the 10th Doc/Hamlet stuff was genius. But then he is....
May 21, 2008 | Reply
It would be Narley (Gnarley?), wouldn't it, if it is who I think it so. I'm Not Going to guess explicitly, in case I'm disappointed. But I might Nod, Give a few hints here and there, in the hope that Stu N Grants our wishes (or Steven Moffat) and makes it all come true. Or is that a No Go?